A currency trader passes by screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, right, and the foreign exchange rate at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020.
AP
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Friday as questions about the effectiveness of one possible coronavirus vaccine weighed on investor optimism.
Benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney retreated while Tokyo and Seoul gained.
Investors have been encouraged by reports of progress toward a possible vaccine. But they were uneasy after researchers questioned data that showed a candidate from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca was 70% effective.
“Market participants showed increasing signs of nervousness as data errors were revealed,” said Mizuho Bank in a report.
The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP,
The Kospi 180721,
India’s Sensex 1,
U.S. markets were closed Thursday for a holiday.
Investors are looking forward to a possible vaccine to control the pandemic that plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s, though forecasters warn the stock market rebound might be too early to be sustained.
Those hopes were dented this week when researchers questioned how Oxford and AstraZeneca AZN,
Investors also are dismayed that U.S. states and European governments are reimposing controls on business and travel as infection rates surge.
The disease has killed more than 1.4 million people worldwide and there are 61 million confirmed cases, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.
Markets are uneasy about U.S. data showing consumer spending weakening and job losses rising.
Supplemental unemployment benefits that supported consumer spending, the engine of the U.S. economy, have expired. Congress is deadlocked on a possible new aid plan.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude CL.1,
The dollar USDJPY,
